


Hey, Stephen

by supervengerslock



Series: Hey, Stephen [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, captain america: civil war - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Goes from Civil War through Doctor Strange, Reader goes to Kamar-Taj, Steve is the Reader's Ex, Tony is the Reader's Dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 04:00:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20352022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supervengerslock/pseuds/supervengerslock
Summary: After being hurt in the Avengers’ Civil War, and being failed by western medicine, Y/N Stark goes to Kamar-taj, healing her spine and her heart. Originally posted on my tumblr with the same name.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The prologue is set during Civil War, so Stephen and the reader don't really meet until the next chapter!

“Hear me out, Tony, that Doctor, the psychiatrist, he’s behind all of this.”

“Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in, and that was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?”

“You’re after the wrong guy,” Steve replies.

“Your judgement is askew,” Tony says. “Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday!”

“And there are five more just like him,” Steve replies. “I can’t let the doctor find them first, Tony, I can’t.”

“Steve,” Natasha says, appearing on the scene. Steve turns towards her. “You know what’s about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way outta this one?”

Steve turns back to you and Tony. “And why bring her, Tony?”

“I can take care of myself, Steve!” Y/N retorted. 

“Alright, I’m out of patience,” Tony says. “Underoos!”

Peter flies in and webs Steve’s hands, and taking the shield and landing on the jet behind Y/N. She smiled at the teenager.

“Nice job, kid!” Tony remarks.

“Thanks!” Peter replies. “Well, I could’ve stuck the landing a little better, but it’s just, the new suit.. It’s nothing, Mr. Stark. It’s perfect, thank you.”

“We really don’t need to have a conversation,” Tony says to Peter.

“Cap’n,” Peter says. “Big fan.”

“Yeah, we’ll talk about it later,” Tony says. He turns to Y/N. “Y/N, keep an eye on him.”

“Got it.”

“You’ve been busy,” Steve says. 

“And you’ve been a complete idiot,” Tony answers back. “I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.”

“You did that when you signed.”

“You’re gonna turn Barnes over, or you’re gonna come with us, because it’s us!” Tony says angrily.

An arrow comes out of the air and cuts the webs off of Steve’s hands. 

Tony and Rhodey fly off, and Y/N follows Peter at a close distance, to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. 

Peter crashes through the window and shoves Sam to the ground, before turning to Bucky and stopping his metal arm in midair. Y/N hurried towards them, to protect the kid. 

Bucky realized a kid just stopped his metal arm. Peter webbed them to the ground. He turns to her. “Did I do it right, Ms. Y/N?”

“Yes, Peter, now come on!” The two of them hurry away.

Y/N and Peter happen upon Steve, who was catching his shield. “That thing doesn’t obey the laws of physics at all,” Peter observes.

“Kid, there’s a lot going on here that you don’t understand,” Steve says.

“Mr. Stark said you’d say that.” Peter shoots his webs and hits Steve in the legs, pulling him to the ground. “He also said to go for your legs.”

Once Steve breaks free from the webs, he tries to grab his shield, but Peter webs his hands.

“Nice going, Peter!” she exclaims. Steve pulls the webs, flinging Peter through the air.

“Peter!” You exclaim. Steve turns to you. “I don’t want to fight you, Y/N.”

“Don’t then,”she says before flying away in her blue and black Iron man armor. 

Sam started flying behind Y/N.

“Vision, I got a falcon on my six, do you copy?”

All she heard was static. “Vision!”

It all happened too fast. Sam ducked, and Vision hit her suit in the arc reactor, sending her plunging towards the earth. 

You woke up in a hospital room. Tony and Peter were sitting in chairs. Rhodey was standing behind them.

“What happened?” You asked.

“You fell out of the sky,” Rhodey says. “Vision got your arc reactor.”

“Am I paralyzed?” You ask.

“Not forever,” Tony says. “You’ll have to go through physical therapy, but I think you might make a full recovery.”

Peter hands you a stuffed bear from the gift shop. “I got you this from the gift shop.”

You squeezed his cheeks. “You’re the cutest!”

A knock sounded on the door and a doctor walked in. “Hi, I’m Doctor Stephen Strange. I’m the specialist Doctor Palmer sent.”

Doctor Strange shakes Y/N’s hand and Tony’s. 

“Hey, kid, maybe you should head home,” Tony says. “Rhodey?.”

“I’ll take him,” Rhodey sighs. “Come on, kid. I’ll be back later.” Peter and Rhodey leave the room.

“I’m gonna call Pepper.” He exits the room.

“Alright, so I’m going to send you for an MRI, and we’ll see where we can go from there.”

Y/N nods as the doctor starts to look over something on his chart and a figure steps inside. It’s Steve. 

“What do you want?” Y/N asks angrily. 

“Y/N, I… I had to do it. He would have killed Bucky. I had to do what was right.”

“No, Steve, you did what YOU thought was right. You’re so damn arrogant. Do you know how many people were hurt because of your stupid decisions?”

Y/N was crying at this point, and Doctor Strange decided to speak up. “You’re upsetting my patient. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Steve glared at the doctor and stomped out of the room. “He seems… nice,” Stephen says sarcastically. 

Y/N looks up at the man. “Why did you do that?” Y/N asks.

“He was upsetting you. No man should make a lady cry.”

Y/N smiled at at that, and Stephen smiled back, making her blush. “Alright, I’ll send the papers in and someone will be here to take you to your MRI soon. See you shortly, Miss Stark.”

“See you, doctor.” 

~

“Okay, just one more!” The physical therapist urged. You sighed in frustration. 

“This is useless! Has this worked for anybody?” You ask.

“Okay, I know I’m not supposed to show you this, but there’s this one guy, he was a factory worker. He came in with a broken back. He got fed up with the therapy and left. A few years later, he walked past me on the street. Here’s his file.”

~

Y/N wheeled her wheelchair up to a basketball court where a few men were playing. “Jonathan Pangborn?” She asked. A man walked up to her.

“Yes?” The man asked.

“Hi, I’m Y/N Stark. I heard about your accident a while back from the physical therapist. How did you do it?” You ask.

“Wait, you’re Y/N Stark? Isn’t your father the Iron Man?” He asks.

“Yes,” You reply. “Anyway, I was in an accident when the Avengers were fighting each other. Doctors say I probably won’t walk again.”

“They told me that too,” he replied. “When I got injured, I figured I could at least expand my mind, so I went east. I ended up at a place called Kamar-Taj. And I expanded my mind, and my spirit, and then, my body healed.”

“That’s amazing!” You exclaim. “Where is this place?”

He pulls out a piece of paper and writes down the address. “I hope you find what you’re looking for,” he says before joining his friends again.


	2. Kamar-Taj

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen discovers another way, his last hope, Kamar-taj, and sees a familiar face there.

Stephen sat in physical therapy with the therapist. “Do you know anyone who’s had nerve damage this severe?”

“There was one man, Jonathan Pangborn. A factory worker. He was in an accident, broke his back. A couple years later, he walked by me on the street.”

The news report played on the TV behind them. The headline read Stark Sister Still Missing. “The search for Y/N Stark, the daughter of Tony Stark, is still on. She was last seen in New York in a wheelchair.”

“They still haven’t found her,” the therapist remarks.

“I’m sorry?” Stephen asks.

“Y/N Stark was one of my patients, she was paralyzed. She wasn’t ever going to walk again. Funny, she asked about Pangborn as well, and then she just vanished.”

“Why do they think happened to her?” Stephen asks.

“No clue.”

Stephen wondered if there was a connection between Y/N’s disappearance and Jonathan Pangborn, and decided to find out for himself.

It didn’t take him long to find Pangborn, he was playing basketball. Completely healed. 

Stephen walked up to a fence of a basketball court. “Jonathan Pangborn C7-C8 spinal cord injury completely paralyzed from the mid chest down, partial paralysis in both hands.” He states.

“I don’t know you.”

The man walks up to him. “My name is Doctor Stephen Strange I’m a neurosurgeon, was a neurosurgeon, and I read your file, it’s amazing, how did you do it?”

“I went to your office once,” Pangborn says. “You refused to see me.”

“Look, I’m sorry about that. You were untreatable. But now, I’m trying to find my own way back,” Stephen says, showing Pangborn his nerve damaged hands.

“When I had my accident I’d given, I figured I could at least expand my mind. So I went east. I saw gurus, and sacred women people carried me to mountain tops to see holy men, and I found my teacher. And my mind was elevated, and my spirit deepened, and somehow-“

“Your body healed.”

“And there were deeper secrets to learn, but I didn’t have the strength to receive them. I chose to settle for my miracle, and I came back home. The place you’re looking for is Kamar-taj. But the cost there is high?”

“How much?” Stephen asks. “Money’s not a problem.”

“I’m not talking about money. Good luck.” Pangborn returned to his game, leaving Stephen with his thoughts.

So maybe the same happened to Y/N Stark? All Stephen knew was that he needed to get on a plane. Now.

Y/N sat at a table, having tea with the Ancient One. “Ancient One,” Y/N asks. “What do you see in my future?”

“My dear, I see… happiness, passion, and love. There will be some challenges along the way, but you will get through. I see a man.. A man will come into your life and change it for the better, reuniting you with your family.”

“A man?” Y/N asks.. “What about this man? Is he my lover? What does he look like? What’s his name?”

“He looks like someone who is familiar to you, someone you know by name, but not personally. His name is Strange.”

“How strange is it?” Y/N asks.

“That’s all I can answer, my dear.”

Mordo walks into the room, interrupting them. “We have a visitor.”

Y/N follows the two of them out into the room,. “Y/N, grab some tea with a little honey for our guest.”

She nodded, quickly heading to the kitchen to make some tea. She hurries into the room where the visitor awaits. A shaggy looking man walked stood in front of the Ancient One. His hair and clothes were a mess. He looked desperate. Y/N felt for this man, as she had been in the same position a few months ago. She handed him the tea and stepped aside. She was not really paying attention until the man mentions Jonathan Pangborn.

“Did you heal a man named Pangborn?” He asks.

“You know Jonathan Pangborn?” she asks.

“The physical therapist showed me his file,” he says. He looks at you. “Wait, aren’t you that missing Stark girl?”

“Wait, I know you!” You say. “You’re that specialist guy! You refused to operate on me after my accident!”

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I understand now. That’s why I came here.”

“Can you heal me?” he asks the Ancient One.

“Mr. Strange, when you reattach a severed nerve, is it you who heals it back together or the body?”

“It’s the cells,” he says. “Are you talking about cellular regeneration? Because that’s leading edge medical technology. Is that why you’re working here, without a board?”

“No, Mr. Strange, I know how to reorient the spirit to better heal the body.”

Stephen continued to be skeptical while the Ancient One showed him things from a book. Finally, she pushed his astral form out of his body and pressed her finger to his forehead to “open his third eye.”

A moment later, Stephen falls to the ground. “You okay?” Y/N asks. He nods. He is on his knees in front of the Ancient One. 

“Teach me!”

“No.”

And Stephen gets thrown out the door. 

“Why did you turn him away?” Y/N asks. “He is clearly in need of help.”

“I thought you didn’t like the man? He turned you away after your accident.”

“But he’s desperate, and I know it’s probably karma doing that to him, but I think he deserves a chance!”

“You are a kind soul,” the Ancient One says. “Fine, bring him in.”

Y/N opens the front door to see Stephen still sitting out there. “Mr. Strange? Follow me.”

“It’s Doctor,” Stephen says as he follows Y/N towards his room. “So, this is your room. I’ll leave you to settle into your room, Mr. Strange.”

Y/N pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Stephen. “Shamballa? What is that, my mantra?”

Y/N laughs. “It’s the wi-fi password, Doctor Strange.”

He smiles at her. “Call me Stephen.”

“Only if you call me Y/N.”

“Deal.”


	3. The Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen and Y/N both make progress at Kamar-Taj, and discover a sinister plot is brewing.

Y/N was sitting in Stephen’s room, they were getting to know one another. After a rough start, he was learning fast.

“Y/N, you never told me how you ended up here,” Stephen says.

“Well, the Avengers had a fight, and I was on my father’s team. There was an accident, and the arc reactor in my suit got broken. I fell out of the sky. I got frustrated with physical therapy quickly, and the therapist showed me Pangborn’s file. I tracked him down, and he gave me the address. Then, I ended up here a few months ago. The Ancient One has been like a mother to me.”

“Your father’s still looking for you,” Stephen says. “Why haven’t you visited or called him?”

“I’m worried he’ll think I’m some kind of freak,” Y/N says. “Though I do really want to see him again.”

“Do you want to see my relic?” Y/N asks. Stephen nods. She pulls out a golden sword. “This is the Glory of Ten Powers. It’s a sword forged by a couple who were ancient masters of the mystic arts. It is said that their love was so strong that a great spirit deity inhabited the sword, giving whoever wields it great powers and it protects them from harm.”

“So, it has the powers of love in it? It’s a love sword?”

“It is NOT a love sword…. Actually, It might be a love sword.”

Stephen chuckles. “Say love sword again.”

Y/N playfully shoved him. 

“What are you, twelve?”

Y/N and Stephen spent a lot of time in the library, and she introduced him to Wong, the guardian of the books. When Stephen wandered off into the library, Wong turned to her. “You like him.”

“I do not, Wong!” Y/N exclaims, her face turning red.

“Yes, you do.”

Y/N was laying on Stephen’s bed reading a book while he was on his laptop. She looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing.

“Who’s Christine?” she asks.

“She..Uh..I worked with her at the hospital. We used to…” he says.

“Got it,” she says awkwardly. “Do you…..miss her?”

“Yes,” Stephen says. 

“Do you love her?” Y/N asks.

“Not anymore,” Stephen says. “Not romantically. There’s someone else I like. What about you? Is there anyone you like? A boyfriend, perhaps?”

“Not in the slightest,” she replies. “My last relationship didn’t exactly end well.”

Stephen didn’t press further, and Y/N was glad. She didn’t feel like sharing every gory detail of her toxic and borderline verbally abusive relationship with Steve.

Later, Y/N and Stephen were in the library looking at one of the books from the Ancient One’s private collection. A picture of an Eye was on the page. “The Eye Of Agamotto.” Y/N points towards it. “It’s right there.”

Stephen takes a bite of the apple before looking around. “Wong?”

No one answers, so Stephen grabs the Eye and puts it on. “First, open the Eye,” she tells him. Stephen opens it and starts to play around with the apple, shrinking it down to just the core, and then returning it to its original form a few times. 

“If you could change the apple…..” she wonders.

“Maybe we could get back the pages of the book,” Stephen finishes.

Stephen uses the Eye again and the pages are restored. “Dormammu?” You read. “The dark dimension?”

“Eternal life?” Stephen reads.

“Stop!” Mordo yells as he and Wong come into the room. “Tampering with continuum probabilities is forbidden!”

“I was just reading from the book..” Stephen says.

“All we did was fix the damn book!” Y/N says. “Now we know what those assholes are going to do!”

“What did the book say?” Wong says. “About the dangers of performing that ritual?”

“I didn’t get to that part,” Stephen says.

“It was probably on the torn out pages,” she comments.

“Temporal manipulations can create branches in time, unstable dimensional openings, paradoxes, time loops!” Mordo yells. “Do you want to get stuck living the same moment forever and ever or never having existed at all?”

“Maybe they should put the warnings before the spell,” Stephen says.

“You got that right,” you say.

“You weren’t manipulating the space time continuum,” Wong says, putting up the book. “You were breaking it. We don’t tamper with natural law, we defend it.”

“How did you two even understand it?” Mordo says.

“I’ve got a photographic memory, that’s how I got my MD and PHD at the same time,” Stephen says.

“And I’m a genius,” Y/N reminds Mordo.

“What you two did takes more than just a good memory, you were born for the mystic arts.”

“Yet, my hands still shake,” Stephen says.

“Don’t worry, Stephen, If I can learn to walk again, your hands can heal,” Y/N assures him. He smiles at her. Mordo and Wong share a knowing look.

“What?” Y/N asks.

“Nothing,” they both say.

Y/N and Stephen follow Mordo and Wong into another part of the library with the giant projection of the earth.

“While heroes like the Avengers protect earth from physical dangers, we sorcerers safeguard it against more mystical threats,” Wong says. “The Ancient One is the latest in a long line of sorcerers supreme, going back thousands of years to the father of the mystic arts, Agamotto, the same sorcerer who created the Eye you so recklessly borrowed. He built three sanctums in places of power where great cities now stand.”

“This is the Hong Kong Sanctum,” he points to a door.

“The New York Sanctum,” he points to another one.

“And the London Sanctum,” he points to the third door.

“Who’s Dormammu?” Y/N asks.

“Where did you learn that name?” Mordo asks.

“We read it in the book,” Stephen says.

“Dormammu dwells in the dark dimension, beyond time,” Wong says. “He is the cosmic conqueror, the destroyer of worlds, a being of infinite power and endless hunger, with a quest to invade every universe, and bring all worlds into his dark dimension. He hungers for earth most of all.”

“Okay, Okay, I’m out. I came here to heal my hands, not to fight in some mystical war.”

The door to the London Sanctum opens, and sorcerer falls to the ground, a sword through his back. Kaecilius blows up the room, and Y/N and Stephen are thrown through the door to the New York Sanctum.


	4. Sanctum Sanctorium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N and Stephen must defend the New York Sanctum.

“Y/N, are you all right?” He asks. She dusts herself off. 

“I’m fine,we’re in the New York Sanctum, I think.”

Y/N and Stephen walk up to these magical windows that have different scenes and it’s also a portal to the real place. Stephen turns it, and the window scene changes to a dessert.

They both start to look around at the relics until Kaecilius and his cult enter the Sanctum and kill the master of the Sanctum.

Stephen runs and jumps over the rail, with Y/N following him. “Stop!” He exclaims.

“How long have you been at Kamar-taj, Mister…”

“Doctor.”

“Mister Doctor?”

“It’s Strange.”

“Maybe, who am I to judge? What about you, young lady?”

She pulls out her golden sword and Stephen starts to conjure a weapon. Y/N and Stephen start to fight Kaecilius and his followers. They both start to run, but they’re too powerful. So, Stephen tries to use his magic and she starts slicing and dicing with the sword.

Kaecilius moves the building around, and you and Stephen start falling. He grabs onto a door. “Y/N, grab my hand!” She takes his hand. He puts her hand on the door before letting go and throwing one of the followers into the dessert portal before changing it and throwing the other one in before changing it again.

Once the building is upright again, Kaecilius charges towards Stephen and starts slicing through the air as Stephen runs. He pushes something over to block the path.

Stephen picks up some kind of cauldron as Kaecilius has him cornered. “Ha!”

“You have no idea how to use that, do you?”

Y/N runs up the stairs to see the two fighting. They start breaking glass and relics until the cloak of Levitation blocks Stephen from being stabbed.

Kaecilius throws Stephen down the stairs and the cloak follows him, lifting him up. The cloak makes him fly backwards and Stephen starts towards some weapons on the wall, but the cloak pulls him back. 

“Get that!” Y/N tells Stephen, pointing to the thing on the wall that the cloak was bringing Stephen to. He throws it at Kaecilius, and Kaecilius gets trapped in that thing.

Kaecilius starts speaking unintelligibly, so Stephen removes the mask of the thing. He starts mumbling something.

“Stop it,” Stephen says. 

“You cannot stop this, Mister Doctor,” He says.

“I don’t even know what this is!” Stephen exclaims. 

“It is the end, and the beginning, the many, becoming the few, becoming the one.”

“Look, if you’re not gonna start making sense, I’m just gonna have to put this thing back on,” Stephen says.

“Tell me, Mister Doctor…”

“My name is Doctor Stephen Strange!”

“He gets real mad when you don’t say it right,” she says. Stephen glares at Y/N. “What?”

“So you are a real doctor, a man of science, you understand the laws of nature, all things age, all things die.”

“Actually, I’m the scientist,” Y/N interjects. “Engineering, really, but that’s still a science.”

“So you know that in the end our sun burns out and our universe becomes cold and perishes, like the dark dimension, it’s a place beyond time.”

“That’s it, I’m putting this back on,” Stephen says.

“This world doesn’t have to die, Doctor, it can take its place as part of the one. We can all live forever.”

“Really, why do you have to gain out of this new age dimensional utopia?” Stephen asks.

“The same as you, the same as everyone, life. Eternal life as part of the one. People think in terms of good and evil, but time is the enemy of us all. Time kills everything.”

“What about the people you killed?” Stephen asks.

“Momentary specs within an indifferent universe,” He answers.

“You must be fun at parties,” Y/N comments.

“Your girlfriend is very funny,” Kaecilius chuckles.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Stephen says.

“You see what we’re doing, Doctor? The world is not what it ought to be, humanity longs for the eternal, for a world beyond time, because time is what enslaves us, time is an insult. Death is an insult.”

“That is exceedingly arrogant,” Y/N says. “I’m getting pretty tired of arrogant men who think they know best.”

“We don’t seek to rule this world, we seek to save it, to hand it over to Dormammu,who is the intent of all evolution, the why of existence.”

“The sorcerer supreme defends existence,” Stephen says.

“What was it that brought you to Kamar-taj, Doctor? Was it enlightenment?”

Stephen does not answer.

“Oh, you came to be healed, as did we all. Kamar-taj collects broken things, we all come with the promise of being healed, but instead the Ancient One gives power. The real magic she keeps for herself. You ever wonder how she managed to live this long?”

“The ritual in the book…” Stephen says.

“So, you know. The ritual gives me the power to overthrow the sanctums and the Ancient One, and bring on the dark dimension, because what the Ancient One hoards, Dormammu gives freely. Life everlasting. He is not the destroyer of worlds, he is the savior of worlds.”

“Come on, Look at your face!” Stephen says. “Dormammu made you a murderer. Just how good can his kingdom be?”

Kaecilius laughs. “You think that’s funny?” Stephen says.

“No, what’s funny is that you lost your sling ring.”

Y/N sees that one of the followers is about to stab Stephen, so she tosses him her sword. Stephen blocks the hit, and Y/N starts to conjure up a weapon when the man stabs her.

Stephen knocks the guy unconscious and steals his sling ring, before helping her up and conjuring up a portal.

“Come on, stay with me, we’re gonna get you fixed up.”


	5. Fight at the Astral Plane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen takes Y/N to the hospital, and they fight Kaecilius’s followers in the Astral Plane.

Stephen stumbles out of the mop closet and into the hospital hallway, carrying Y/N in his arms. “Doctor Palmer, Where is she?” Stephen asks a nurse. 

“The nurse’s station!”

“Christine!” Stephen calls, carrying her towards the nurse’s station. Christine hurries towards the two of them.

“Get her in an operating table now, just you. Now!” Stephen says.

They go through a door, and Stephen lays Y/N down on the table as her vision starts to go blurry. “Stay with me, Y/N! You’re going to be alright!”

Christine is tearing off the wizard tunic around Y/N’s abdomen. “What happened?” Christine asks.

“She was stabbed with some kind of spear I think,” Stephen answers. 

Stephen sees the astral projection of the man who stabbed Y/N going through the hallway. 

“I gotta go, keep her alive,” Stephen says. He projects his astral form out of his body and sees Y/N’s astral form, already engaged in combat with the man.

They fight through the wall, into the hallway, through the vending machine. Y/N’s astral form feels a jolt of electricity as Christine uses the defibrillator. Stephen’s astral form appears beside Christine. 

“Do it again.”

“But her heart has already started beating!”

“Just do it!”

Y/N’s astral form is shocked again with more power, this time, frying the astral form of the man. 

Y/N and Stephen return their astral forms to their bodies. Y/N opens her eyes to see Stephen standing over her, bathed in light. “Are you an angel?” she asks in a disoriented state.

Stephen laughs. “Come on, we’ve got to get back.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s going on? Are you guys in a cult or something?”

“Or something,” Stephen replies. He picks Y/N up and starts to carry her to the portal. “You know I can walk…” 

“You need rest to heal,” Stephen says. 

“But it looks like we’re not gonna get any of that with Dormammu on his way here.”

Stephen set Y/N down at the closet where the portal was left. 

Stephen opens the door to the closet. “Ladies first,” Stephen says, and Y/N steps through the portal.

“You love her,” Christine says to Stephen.

“No, I don’t.”

“I can tell when you’re lying, Stephen,” she says. 

“I’ve gotta go, I’ve got a cult meeting,” Stephen says, stepping through the portal.

Y/N and Stephen walked around the Sanctum. He checked the pulse of the unconscious follower. He was dead. They walked up the stairs and looked around. Kaecilius was gone.

“Strange. Y/N.”

The two of them turned around to see Mordo.

“You’re okay!”

“Yeah, we’re okay,” Stephen says.

“The cloak of levitation, it came to you.”

“No minor feat, it’s a fickle thing,” the Ancient One says, coming out of the darkness.

“Kaecilius is gone,” you say. “He could fold space and matter outside the mirror dimension, it was freaky.”

“Are there others?”

“One’s in the desert and the other, his body’s in the hall.”

“Master Drumm is in the foyer,” Stephen says.

“He’s been taken back to Kamar-taj.”

“The London Sanctum has fallen,” The Ancient One says. “Only New York and Hong Kong remain now to shield us from the dark dimension. You two defended the New York Sanctum from attack. With its master gone, it needs another. Master Strange. Master Y/N.”

“No, it is Doctor Strange, not Master Strange, not Mister Strange. When I became a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm, and I have just killed a man! I am not doing that again.”

“To be fair, we both killed him, and it was in self defense,” Y/N says.

“I became a doctor to save lives, not take them.”

“You became a doctor to save one life above all others, your own.”

“Still seeing through me, are you?” Stephen asks. 

“I see what I’ve always seen, your overinflated ego. You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything, even death. Which no one can control.”

“Not even Dormammu?” Stephen asks. “He offers immortality.”

“Oh no,” Y/N says under her breath. “Stephen, stop.”

“It’s our fear of death that gives Dormammu life, he feeds off it,” the Ancient one answers. 

“You feed off it. You’ve talked to me about controlling death, well, I’ve seen how you do it. The missing rituals from the book of Cagliostro.”

“Choose your next words, very carefully, Doctor.”

“Because you might not like them,” Stephen says mockingly .

“Because you may not know of what you speak.”

“Stephen, I am literally begging you to stop,” Y/N pleads. 

“What is he talking about?” Mordo asks, confused.

“I’m talking about her long life, the source of her immortality. She draws power from the dark dimension to stay alive.”

“That’s not true. Right?” Mordo asks. Y/N looks down at her shoes. 

“I’ve seen the rituals, worked them out,” Stephen says. “I know how you do it.”

“Once they regroup,” she says, “The zealots will be back. We will need reinforcements.”

The Ancient One walks away and Stephen turns to Mordo. “She is not who you think she is.”

“You don’t have the right to say that! You have no idea the responsibility that rests upon her shoulders.”

“No, and I don’t want to know,” Stephen says.

“You’re a coward.”

“Because I’m not a killer?”

“Enough!” Y/N shouts. “There’s no time for this bullshit, we need to get ready for when they come. You said you wanted to save lives, Stephen, well guess what, that’s what we’re doing! I have had enough of these men that think they know better than everyone.”

The three of them turn as they hear something in the foyer.


	6. Death of the Ancient One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaecilius and the zealots attack again, this time with dangerous consequences.

Y/N turns when she hears something in the foyer. “Shit.” She runs in just in time to see Kaecilius and his zealots performing a ritual. She pulls out her sword as she and Mordo start to fight the zealots. 

“Strange! Get down here and fight.”

Stephen raises his hands and puts them in the mirror dimension. “The mirror dimension. You can’t affect the real world in here. Who’s laughing now, asshole?”

“I am.”

Kaecilius starts to fold matter inside the sanctum and Stephen, Y/N, and Mordo run outside the sanctum to escape. 

“Their connection to the dark dimension makes them more powerful in the mirror dimension. Without their sling rings, they can’t escape, but they can kill us!”

“Great plan,” Y/N says sarcastically. They keep running as the city starts turning sideways and they run into a bus. They start to run up a building and Stephen starts to open a portal but the building bends sideways and they start to fall. They finally land on the side of a building.

“This was a mistake,” Stephen says.

“You think, dumbass?”

They start falling again and land on a fire escape, the zealots start finally catching up with them. Kaecilius grabs Stephen and pushes him to the ground, choking him while he takes Stephen’s sling ring.

He almost stabs Stephen when he is pushed away by the Ancient One, who appears to join the fight, the dark dimension symbol on her forehead.

“It’s true.. She does draw power from the dark dimension,” Mordo says in shock.

“Is that really important right now?” Y/N asks.

The Ancient one and Kaecilius begin to circle around. “Kaecilius.”

“I came to you,” he says to the Ancient one. “Broken, lost. I trusted you to be my teacher and you fed me lies.”

“I tried to protect you.”

“From the truth?” he asks.

“From yourself.”

“I have a new teacher now,” he says. “A better teacher.”

“Dormammu deceives you. You have no idea what he truly is. His eternal life is not paradise, but torment.”

Kaecilius, the zealots, and the Ancient one start to fight. He stabs her and sends her through a portal.

“NO!!!” Y/N screams, running toward the portal. She, Stephen, and Mordo jump through. The Ancient One’s body hits the ground as the three run up to her. Stephen checks her pulse before opening a portal to the hospital.

Christine was standing by the nurse’s station when she heard Stephen call out to her. “Christine!”

“Oh my god..” 

The Ancient One is rolled in on a gurney. Stephen and the paramedics are rolling her in, Y/N running behind. Stephen turns to Y/N. “I need you to stay here, I’ll take care of her, I promise.”

Y/N nods, tears in her eyes. Not long after, she sees the Ancient One’s astral form fly by. She goes into the astral plane and follows her, seeing Stephen is not far behind.

“Ancient One?” she asks.

“You have to return to your body now,” Stephen says, “You don’t have time.”

“Time is relative. Your bodies haven’t even hit the floor yet.”

A lightning bolt starts to flash in slow motion. “I’ve spent so many years peering through time, looking at this exact moment, but never further. I’ve prevented countless terrible futures, and after each one, there’s always another. They all lead here, but never further.”

“You think this is where you die.”

“You wonder what I see in your future?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“I never saw your future, only its possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness, always excelled. But not because you craved success, but because of your fear of failure.”

“That’s what made me a great doctor.”

“It’s precisely what kept you from greatness. Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest lesson of all.”

“Which is?”

“It’s not about you,” she says. “You asked me how I healed Jonathan Pangborn. I didn’t. He channels dimensional energy into his body. And so does Y/N.”

“I use magic to walk?” Y/N asks. 

“ Precisely. He had a choice, Y/N had a choice, and you do too. You could get your hands back, go back to your old life, and forget this ever happened. And the world all the lesser for it.”

She looks to both of them. “You two, you need each other. And your souls..”

“What about our souls?” Stephen asks.

“They’re bonded. Only together do you stand a chance of defeating Dormammu.”

“We’re not ready,” Y/N says.

“No one ever is, we don’t get to choose our time.” She takes Y/N and Stephen’s hands. “Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered, your time is short. You think after all this time, I’d be ready.”

She fades away into the darkness. Y/N and Stephen return to their bodies, and Y/N begins to sob. Stephen pulls her into his arms and kisses her forehead as she sobs.

Y/N pulls away. “What do you think she meant by our souls being bonded?” she asks.

“I think I have an idea..” Stephen says awkwardly. 

They both look around around, daring not to look each other in the eyes. “We should probably go grab Mordo and head to the Sanctum,” Y/N says.

“Yeah, let’s do that!” Stephen agrees quickly, opening a portal back to the sanctum and stepping through.


	7. Dormammu, I've Come to Bargain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dormammu descends upon the earth, and the masters of the mystic arts scramble to protect it.

The portal opens and Stephen, Y/N, and Mordo enter the Hong Kong Sanctum. The zealots have already begun their attack, and there is rubble and fire everywhere. 

“The Sanctum’s already fallen.”

“The Dark dimension, Dormammu is coming.” Y/N says

“It’s too late, nothing can stop it,” Mordo says.

“Not necessarily.” Stephen starts rewinding time. The rubble forms buildings again, people come back to life. The zealots get trapped in the rubble for a moment.

“It’s working, we’ve got a second chance!”

Stephen, Y/N, Mordo, and the zealots continue to fight in the middle of all the rewinding. Stephen sucks out of the way in time of a backwards moving car. They continue to fight until Y/N looks up to the sky and sees it. The dark dimension.

“Stephen, look!” She yells, pointing towards the sky. 

“Oh no.”

The rubble is reforms until Wong is uncovered. Stephen revives him. “Wong!”

Wong looks at him, surprised. 

“Breaking the laws of nature, I know,” Stephen says.

“Well, don’t stop now.”

“When the sanctum is restored, they’ll attack it again,” Y/N says. “We’ve got to defend it.”

They run towards the Sanctum as Kaecilius uses a spell to blow up the road. Stephen falls to the ground, and time stops. 

Y/N pulls Stephen off the ground. “Y/N,” he says. “If we die, I just want you to know, I love you.”

“Stephen, what-“ Stephen kisses her passionately.

“Isn’t it beautiful? A world beyond time. Beyond death?”

“Beyond time,” Stephen says to himself before flying away.

“Stephen!”

Stephen flies up to the dark dimension. To Dormammu.

“He’s gone. Even Strange has left you and surrendered to his power,” Kaecilius says. 

Y/N runs him through with her sword. “That is enough.”

Stephen lands and turns to face the dimensional being. “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”

“You’ve come to die.”

Stephen uses his magic to shield himself, but Dormammu kills him.

Stephen appears again. “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”

“You’ve come to die…. What is happening? Is it an illusion?”

“No this is real.”

“Good.” He stabs Stephen and Stephen appears again.

“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”

“What is happening?”

“Since you gave Kaecilius powers from your dimension,” Stephen answers, “I brought a little power from mine. This is time, endless looped time.”

Dormmamu kills him again and again and again.

“You cannot do this forever.”

“Actually, I can,” Stephen says. “This is how things are now. You and me, trapped in this moment, forever.”

“Then you will spend eternity dying,” Dormammu says.

“Yes, But everyone on earth will be safe,” Stephen replies.

“But you will suffer,” Dormammu says.

“Pain’s an old friend,” Stephen says.

Dormmamu kills Stephen again.

“Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.” Stephen is killed endlessly.

“You will never win.”

“No, but I could lose again and again forever, and that makes you my prisoner.”

Dormammu realized he was being played. And it made him angry. “No, stop! Make this stop, set me free!”

Stephen appears again. “No, I’ve come to bargain.”

“What is your bargain?”

“Leave earth, take your zealots with you, and never come back. Do it, and I’ll break the loop.”

Stephen flies back down to the earth. 

“Isn’t it beautiful? A world beyond time. Beyond death?” Kaecilius turns around. “What did you do?”

“I made a bargain.”

“What is this?” Kaecilius asks as he is becoming part of Dormammu. 

“Everything you’ve ever wanted. Eternal life as part of the one. You’re not gonna like it.”

He and the zealots disappear into the sky, and Dormmamu leaves. 

“Yeah, he really should have stolen the whole book, because the warnings come after the spell.”

Wong starts laughing as Y/N kisses Stephen. Then Stephen begins to rewind everything, fixing everything that was destroyed. 

“We did it.”

“Yes, we did it, by also violating the natural law,” Mordo comments.

“Look around you, it’s over.”

“Yeah, come on, Mordo!” Y/N chimes in. “Let’s just call it a day and go get some drinks!”

“You still think there will be no price to pay, Strange? No consequences? The bill always comes due. I will follow this path no longer.” Mordo turns from them and walks away. 

~

Stephen returns the eye to its spot. “Wise choice,” Wong says. “Once you master the eye you can wear it again. Until then, best not to be carrying around an infinity stone.”

“That’s a goddamn infinity stone?” Y/N asks.

“A what?” Stephen asks.

Y/N and Stephen interlace their fingers and suddenly there is a red string tying both of their pinkies together. 

“Was that there before?” Y/N asks. 

“I don’t know. What is that?” Stephen asks.

“Red string of fate,” Wong says. “It ties two people who are soulmates together. You still have much to learn. Word of the Ancient One’s death will spread through the multiverse, and now that there’s no Sorcerer Supreme to defend it, we need to be ready.”

“We’ll be ready,” Stephen says. He turns to Y/N. “Shall we?” he asks, offering his hand to her. 

“We shall,” she says, taking his hand and following him through the door to the New York Sanctum.


End file.
